Friday, August 25, 2006

A jade earring in its place

What a difference a day makes! On my way out the door to work this morning I detoured to check the progress of the monarch caterpillar and discovered it still dangling upside down, deciding how to get rid of its skin. When I returned late this afternoon, I found the caterpillar had redressed itself in this beautiful chrysalis!"The chrysalis of the Monarch... looks like a jade earring. Near the light green top, an elegant band of gold is underscored with a thin black line. More highlights of gold decorate the bottom half. No one fully understands the purpose of this glitter. Perhaps the pupae gleam to warn off predators. Perhaps their reflectance camouflages them in the light and dark of a sunlight branch. They may be trying to look like metallic beetles. They may be imitating raindrops." - Sharman Apt Russell, An Obsession with Butterflies

Laura, I just followed you back from one of the comments you left, and I'm so glad I did. This is such a wonderful blog. I will visit often.

I'm glad you found the monarch and I love Peeper. When my son was a child he had a Dutch rabbit he named Playboy (he had heard of Playboy bunnies but had no idea what they were)and we quite fell in love with him.